The LSU men’s and women’s tennis teams completed the weekend with a sweep of their opponents.
The LSU men began their spring campaign with wins over Southern University and the University of Southern Mississippi on Saturday.
Beginning with Southern Miss., the LSU men swept through the doubles and singles matches, defeating the Golden Eagles 7-0.
The doubles team of senior Bryan Fisher and junior Jason Hazley, ranked No. 35 in the nation, beat USM’s Reid Bourgeois and Thomas Funke, 8-3.
LSU’s Danny Bryan and Cory Ross defeated USM’s Dylan Mezey and Mark Lux, 8-2.
In the singles, freshman Ken Skupski defeated David Canudas, 6-3, 6-4.
Co-caption Cory Ross defeated Bourgeois 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) in the tie-breaker.
In their second match, LSU defeated the Jaguars 6-1.
The duo of Peter Richman and Colt Gaston defeated Gregory Pipkins and Alejandro Galindo, 8-1.
Ross and freshman Danny Bryan beat David Ensignia and Alex Hidalgo, 8-2.
In the singles matches, senior Sebastian Rutka defeated Galindo, 6-4, 6-1.
Hazley got past Engisnia, 6-0, 6-2.
LSU’s only loss came when SU’s Alex Hidalgo knocked off Fisher, 4-6, 6-2 (1-0).
Coach Jeff Brown said he was pleased with the way his team played, despite Fisher’s tie-breaker loss.
“Bryan ran into probably their toughest player,” Brown said. “Anytime you play a 10-point breaker for the match anything can happen.”
Brown also said he was impressed with the way they played against USM.
“We out-fought them and out-hustled them,” Brown said. “The experience that we have is going to pay off, and it did.”
Ross said that preparation is what helped get them the win.
“We were real pumped up on the match just because it was the first of the year,” Ross said. “We were just really fired up with a bunch of adrenaline.”
Skupski, ranked No. 33 in the nation, said that the adrenaline helped get the team through the matches.
“Some guys struggled at the beginning of the match, like myself,” Skupski said. “But we were able to get very intense throughout the match.”
The LSU women managed to get past Purdue 4-3, extending their winning streak to five matches.
In the doubles matches, senior Rocio Fantilli and sophomore Amanda Mang defeated Gretchen Haynor and Melissa Woods, 8-1.
The duo of Lauren Seaman and Camila Chiarelli beat Lara Burgarello and Alyssa Rodriguez, 8-5.
The Lady Tigers struggled in the singles matches.
Purdue’s Walgenbach knocked off Mang, 6-4, 4-6 (8-10).
Fantilli fell to Hala Sufi, 3-6, 1-6.
Despite the losses, LSU managed to clinch the victory with a number of key match wins.
Senior Jessica Ferguson, on the No. 1 court, defeated Haynor 7-5, 7-5.
Camila Caliari defeated Burgarello, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) to clinch the win. Coach Tony Minnis said he was happy with the way the team played.
“We played pretty good,” Minnis said. “I was pleased with the way we competed.”
Seaman, who defeated Woods, 6-2, 6-2, said she felt good about the way she played.
“I felt really focused today,” Seaman said. “I played aggresively but controlled.”
“[Woods] was pretty quick, so I had to stay pretty disciplined.”